Tonight, I finally completed BG1 for the first time. This is a game I've tried to get into many times, starting back in 1998 when it first came out. I never really got into it, though, until this most recent attempt (started a year ago or so).
I played the GOG version without any other mods, etc., and played a "fake multiplayer" game so I could create a full party from the start. I basically recreated my PoR/CotAB/SotSB Gold Box party (two fighters, thief, priest, two mages). If I had to do it over, I'd probably go with a smaller party, as it could get a little annoying micromanaging six characters the whole game.
I really didn't do a lot of optional stuff, and left a lot of the wilderness areas unexplored (I only really explored the named locations). For TotSC, I did the Ice Cave quest and Durlag's Tower, but didn't complete the werewolf area or the cult stuff in Ulgoth's Beard. The hardest encounter for my party, by far, was the four Warders in Durlag's Tower. Other than that, this was an excellent dungeon and definitely a high point for the game.
I thought that the game had really excellent exploration and party building, but then again I also skipped a lot of the wilderness areas not related to any specific quests, etc. so I probably skipped a lot of tedium. Low level AD&D is always a blast because gaining even a single level or a +1 weapon early on feels like a massive increase in power. I didn't reach the level/EXP caps, so I had a steady stream of upgrades until the very end of the game.
Although I much prefer turn-based combat, I thought the RTwP combat was fine here. I did have some initial frustration with such a big party, but I stopped treating the game like a blobber and began splitting my party up more often, and this made things a lot more manageable. I really liked how useful a thief is in this game, compared with the Gold Box games; it was very cool sending my thief out to search for traps and scout for enemies.
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Anyway, I really liked this game, and it probably took around 70 hours start to finish. I definitely want to play BG2, but will probably take a break from RTwP for a bit.